The heat wave that threatens to overcome all attempts to be outdoors, or active at all, each and every July is upon us. I don’t do so well with the heat. First of all, it means that the sun is present in all it’s skin-reddening glory. Second, it makes getting up the gumption to do anything just about impossible, because you’re already melting and all you’ve done is put on your socks. I mean, if you’re silly enough to actually find socks necessary in this swelter, that is. But I did manage to brave the warmth and brightness for a few minutes yesterday to take advantage of new surroundings (mi padre’s casa) and take a few pictures.
Don’t let the little crescent of a moon fool you; this was taken in broad daylight as the runner up shots demonstrate. I’ve been missing black and white work lately, so I’ve begun tinkering around with it in Photoshop. Anything you want to accomplish in Photoshop can be done about five different ways, so I’m on a quest to find the method of black and white conversion that I like best. I don’t think that this is it, but it’s not bad. This was accomplished by clicking on the Image Menu, going to the Adjustments fly-out menu and selecting the Black and White option. It allows you to adjust each color channel (green, yellow, red, magenta, cyan, blue, etc.) separately and create a custom black and white image.
I know I’ve used other methods to achieve the black and white look, but at the moment, my heat-addled brain refuses to retrieve the information. Alright. Maybe it’s more like my summer-addled brain, since the day has only begun and the heat hasn’t broken out the big guns yet. What happened to the rain? That’s what I want to know.
Okay, so when I said that eventually things might slow down a bit here on Photodork, I didn’t really intend for eventually to mean right now, or for slow down a bit to mean stop dead in its tracks. But that’s exactly what happened. For about ten days. Tsk, tsk. It’s not that I haven’t been photographing at all. In fact, I just finished editing about 364 photos that I took for a commercial event on Sunday. I must admit though, that photographing for artistic or personal reasons took a slight vacation. I got sidetracked with my knitting, which I realize sounds like the least distracting activity ever, but it can be quite addictive. In an effort to find balance, however, I am trying to reintroduce the photo habits that consumed much of June.
Although I’ve probably said these things before, two truths about photography became evident during my short sabbatical from the medium. The first realization can actually be applied pretty broadly: if you want to do something, you’re going to have to make time to do it. Even in the summer, when I am technically unemployed, and therefore have a lot of free time at my disposal, I don’t always feel I have time to photograph. I have time to read a bunch of frivolous books, dork around on the internet for hours at a time, go to two yarn shops in one day, and ponder the precise method of creating my favorite designer coffee treat. We have time for what we make time for. If it’s important, let your schedule reflect that. I know, I know…easier said than done, but so true. And the second truth? Take your camera every where. Plenty of occasions to take a quick picture presented themselves over the last week and a half. Many of those occasions found me without a camera available, and that’s just frustrating. Sometimes I think about buying an inexpensive point-and-shoot that would fit in my purse and solve this problem. But then I remember that I am really too spoiled by my super-nice, fancy-pants digital SLR. So then I think about getting a bigger purse, which I am trying to hold out on, because I can think of about seven other gadgets that I’d really like to stuff in there and have with me always. What can I say? I foresee back problems in my future. At the moment, the best solution is not to be lazy and just carry my not-so-heavy SLR separately from my purse. Usually it can just ride along in the car with me and be handy if the proper moment presents itself.
So…will I be here tomorrow? Meh. It’s hard to say. Will I try? Most definitely.
Well, let’s hope so anyway. Things have gotten a little off-kilter the last few weeks, and I’ve found myself in a bit of a funk for four or five days. And not an awesome funk; you know, the kind that start with a “ph” instead and mean you’re feeling all sorts of groovy. Nope, just a standard, capital “F” sort of funk that leaves you down and despairing. Well, maybe not despairing, but it certainly isn’t a cheerful state.
So the chocolate really shouldn’t be a surprise, should it? What do I do when in a bit of a slump? Eat chocolate….er, I mean, bake. But yes, usually the something I bake has chocolate in it. Plus, I discovered a small trick that I’m just dying to share. See that lovely white paper sitting under the chocolate? It’s your new best friend, and not just because it was wrapped around a square of chocolate. It’s going to save the day the next time you want to shoot indoors and there’s not enough light to do it without a flash. See, the thing is, I hate flashes. Hate them. You end up with a bright white area in your image and generally distort all the nice colors you were hoping to capture. So I avoid using my flash at all costs. I’ve dragged in lamps from other rooms to add light to a situation, moved things closer to a window to add more natural light, all kind of things. This trick is much easier, and I owe it all to Dylan. As I was grumbling about the lack of light at 9:30 at night and the necessity of using my flash for this shot, he grabbed one of the extra chocolate wrappers and held it in front of my flash so that it would diffuse the light. And it worked. Beautifully. Every time. The little hints of chocolate residue in the creases will wipe off easily with the use of a clean, damp cloth and then you can just tuck them in your camera bag and have an instant diffuser anytime. Go buy some baking chocolate and try it if you don’t believe me. When it blows your mind with its cheap effectiveness, feel free to send me some of the treats you made with that baking chocolate.
Well, I warned you it would happen. I was hoping to get through a whole month posting each and every day, but I fell just short. And really, I blame Harry Potter. Oh, and my sinuses. My guess is that eventually (as in right around August 18th when school is back in session) my posts will become less frequent. My goal is to still update every couple of days at least. However, for now, I promise to be better.
One super notable thing did happen while I was away though: I discovered cherries. Previous to Saturday evening, my only experience with this fruit came in the dye-saturated, jarred format. Yech! So when I was offered some of the real deal on Saturday, I didn’t have high expectations. What a difference though! Instead of being laden with syrup and rubbery, the fresh variety is crisp and barely sweet. They actually remind me a great deal of grapes, without the tartness. This may be one of may favorite finds of the year. The added bonus? They’re lovely little things, visually. I love the color, shape, and size. I expect you’l be seeing more of them here.
Okay, time for a confession: I spent most of yesterday curled up in my bed watching the episodes of “Glee” I missed at the end of the season. Yes, “Glee”, and I may have even shed a tear when “To Sir, With Love” was sang during the season finale. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not wholly ashamed either. I love the show and there are much worse things I could be watching. Plus, I was having some sinus issues yesterday and any excuse to stay dormant was a welcome one.
It seems only fitting then, that the only picture posted today is one of the lamp on my nightstand. It was a fairly dismal day yesterday, full of rain showers and clouds, which I didn’t mind in the least. Due to my malfunctioning sinuses, I had no desire whatsoever to venture outdoors and it made staying in my warm bed all the more cozy. The lamp lets off a nice, subdued glow, giving the image a rich, suffusive feel. It’s all I have to offer for the day. As my sinuses have seemed to master themselves for the moment, I am hopeful that today will be a more productive, or at least, mobile day.
It has not been a banner week for shooting. I think it is closely related to my general apathy towards most everything the past few days. Call it the mid-summer blues if you will, I just don’t have a lot of get-up and go at the moment. Yesterday’s shots weren’t taken until well into the evening even though I carried my camera around with me most of the day.
Hopefully, I will find the energy to crawl back onto the horse soon as a good chunk of summer remains, as does my to-do list. Today is starting overcast and cool: perfect conditions for starting an art project or curling up on the couch with a movie and my knitting. You might be wondering why the heck I mentioned my to-do list if I’m just going to ignore it and knit. And that’s why I love my to-do list, because I put knitting on it. I hate it because I also put less-than-fun things on it like cleaning out the den closet, as well. If you’re beginning to think that this is a serious list and that I am a huge dork that relies on said list pretty heavily, well, you’re getting the idea.
Ahoy! Henceforth, you should probably all refer to me as Captain Photodork. Or Cap’n, if you want to shorten the title a bit. I don’t mind being real respectable, like that Cap’n Crunch fella. Because here’s the thing: I steered the noble ship, er…pontoon boat, yesterday. That’s right, no training (or desire really) before yesterday and I was in charge of that boat, I tell you. And, if you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty proud of myself.
My favorite photo of the day is a prime example of negative and positive space. If you aren’t familiar with the geeky art terms: positive space is the area occupied by your subject matter and negative space is the rest of it. Your positive space can be spread out, take up most of the picture, or be more contained and small, like my friend, Mr. Ducky, here. Negative space doesn’t have to be empty space, necessarily. It can just have less importance, detail, etc. than the rest of the image. Some people like to minimize negative space. Those people would probably have cropped in real close around the duck and allowed him to fill in most of the frame. I tried this and didn’t like it, so I left it as it was. The subtle patterns in the water held enough interest for me to want them in the picture. The lovely thing about art is that it’s all about preference. I like it this way, and I’m right. If you prefer it with less of the water, you’re right too. Yea!
The downside to ruling the boat: less time to photograph. In fact, I took 75% less pictures than our first visit to Horsetooth Reservoir. I did a pretty thorough job the last time, however, so I didn’t feel it was too big a loss. I did see two or three opportunities I’d have liked to have taken, but such is life I guess. The stuff I did get to do, like get in the water twice (and with Bessie too! Pictured above in her stylish doggie life-preserver), hang out with my dad, and – did I mention steer the boat?-more than made up for a couple of missed photographs.
I had no idea what I was going to photograph yesterday. Some fleeting thoughts about meandering through a park occurred to me early on in the day, but were quickly pushed out of the way when the opportunity to go to a movie with Dylan arose. So much for Tuesday’s thoughts about priorities. By late afternoon I was just waiting for a photographic moment to come up and kick me in the shins, which is exactly what I tell my students not to do. I say all this stuff about going out and finding photographs in the world around you and being an active participant in the photographic process. And I mean it, I really do. I just forgot yesterday, that’s all. Then, when I least expected it, inspiration came breezing through in the form of my early evening snack.
Yep, it all started with an apple (which seems like a highly biblical statement as well, but I don’t really mean for it to be that loaded). I was pretty happy to find this apple actually, seeing as how I didn’t think we had any left and I was craving apple slices and peanut butter something fierce. So maybe that’s why I decided to photograph it; I can’t really say where the impetus came from to be honest. I thought I’d take a few, quick shots of the apple and then maybe some other shots later in the evening. I mean, I had snacking to get to, ladies and gents. But then this happened:
It isn’t totally unusual for me to photograph my food though. About three or four years ago, I made a cookbook as part of a school project. I tried out different recipes, wrote about the process and photographed the results. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed food photography, but really I shouldn’t have been. Cooking and baking have long been interests of mine, as has photography. Combining the two should be fun, and it really is. I just haven’t done a lot of it in the years that have elapsed between my cookbook project and my experiments this summer.
Once I had freed the apple slices from the corer/slicer tool, it was like having my own mini-still life. My little white cutting board provided a nice contrast to the dark background and was also neutral. Color does play an important role in food photography. The food is your subject matter, therefore, you don’t want it competing with a lot. If you have busy china patterns or countertops or the colors of these things clash with the food, it can spell disaster. It always good to be mindful of the things that inhabit the backgrounds of your photos, but I find it of special import in food photography.
This is my favorite shot from the day, I think because of the way the apple core just peeks into the photo at the bottom right. The angle of the stem seems to give it a little personality, too. A shallow depth of field (which is why it’s in strong focus in the front and the apples behind it are blurry) give a nice contrast between the fore and back grounds. The only problem? That really was my last apple and now I’m going to need to buy more as this post has made me hungry.
Apparently, I’ve hit the part of the summer that usually arrives right on the tail of the last days of school. Mmhmm, that’s right, I’m talking about the sloth period. In general, the first week of summer vacation is spent doing absolutely nothing because I just can’t muster the enthusiasm or even the motivation to do, well, anything. Useless television shows are watched and lots of reading gets done, but not much else. If I’m feeling really ambitious I might make a list of my aspirations for the rest of the summer (oh, you knew I was a list-maker didn’t you?). I know that there is nothing wrong with taking a break, but it’s not really in my personality type to do so, and I was thrilled when I jumped right into my summer this year. Goodness, I built (ahem, assisted with building) an 8′x2′ planter five days after I turned in my final grades. I should have known it was too good to last.
I’m not sure what really pulled the plug on the awesomeness I was achieving. I’m going to blame the trip to New Mexico though, because it’s nice and handy. Come on, it was so freaking hot and we ran around so much. Who wouldn’t collapse after six days of that? The point is, since we got back, I haven’t done almost anything. Oh sure, I baked a loaf of bread and some granola bars…big whoop. But it was yesterday that really put the icing on the cake. I unpacked…sort of. And then I spent almost the entire day reading. I was at the endish of the fifth book of the Harry Potter series and now I’m well into the sixth. I don’t even have the excuse of having never read them before as this is my third time through.
And now, I’m forced to tell you all of this to kind of explain the lackluster photos for the day. Oh, I think I got a little lucky on that first one, but overall, these aren’t anything I’m writing home about (nope. I’m just writing to the entire population of the internet instead). So I’m thinking a little about priorities this morning. I decided at the beginning of the summer, back when I was kicking butt and taking names, that it was important to me to photograph everyday. Here is my reminder: it is not a good decision to not photograph until 7:30 in the day, and then only for five minutes. Especially when you have nothing else AT ALL going on that day.
The one thing to be said about my photographic habits yesterday is this: I picked a fine time of day to photograph. I love the end-of-the-day light that’s long and buttery. The shadows start to stretch and everything gets a lovely glow about it. I love just looking outside at this time of day, photographing is even better. As much as I encourage shooting with plenty of light on hand, you want to avoid (generally) shooting at high noon. The sun is directly overhead, and therefore, at it’s least flattering. Things look a little worse-off in that kind of harsh lighting, especially people. Just something to keep in mind on your next photo adventure.
One of the things I’d eventually like to incorporate onto this site is the occasional photograph by another artist. So many great images exist and I truly believe that something can be gained by looking at the work of others. In fact, my intention was to link to one yesterday, because there is a photographer that takes incredible aerial images, so it would have tied in nicely to my airplane photographs. But then, as I am so prone to, I got distracted with other thoughts and ideas and well, I blew it. I briefly considered posting the images today, because they still would have tied in and because yesterday I was completely unmotivated to do anything, including photograph. Dylan said that would be a cop-out though, and even though I told him that he was a cop-out (I know, such a great comeback), I found myself bending to peer pressure. And, just to show him, I came up with not one, but two Photos of the Day. That’s right, two. Go ahead and be impressed, I won’t tell anyone.
One of the things that I missed most while we were in New Mexico were the fuzzy little terrorists that I tell myself are cats. Now, part of it was because I am sort of a crazy cat lady (once you have more than two, the label automatically comes, you don’t even have to talk to them or throw them birthday parties) but the other part of it was more practical. I hate moths, people. I can’t even impress upon you how much I dislike them, so just go with me on this. Luckily, since we got cats, it is not something I’ve ever had to worry about. Other people fill a bucket with soapy water to set a moth-trap. We leave on a lamp and set a chair next to it for the cats to use as a springboard. It’s awesome and has made me slightly complacent about the whole thing. Enter our trip to New Mexico, where no cats inhabited our hotel room and it’s the middle of moth season. It wasn’t pretty folks.
It makes sense then that one of the first things I photographed when I got home were the cats. This is Reno, looking quite docile and nice, but don’t let the images fool you. He’s a moth-hunting machine. And also a cantankerous, howling little creep who awoke us at 4:45 this morning. 4:45. In the morning. I guess you gotta take the good with the bad. But dang, people. 4:45.
